Replies

"troubling me with respect to the direction our country is heading, namely the widening gap between rich
people and poor people. "

You are correct, the country is in fact heading in the wrong direction, regardless of the previous postings, and in some cases, rantings. The question is what if anything to do about it and why is it happening.

In the beginning things were as they are now headed, a very wide gap between rich and poor. Believe me when I tell you that all the ranters(you know who you are) would not at all like to be back in those days. They probably don't really appreciate how bad things actually were.

Then in the early part of the past century, things got so bad people were willing to put their lives on the line to start unions. Many died, killed by the very rich we now protect and idolize. For most of my life, my father was a stanuch union member and I was never one. I abhorred labor unions.
Well age does eventually bring wisdom and perspective.

Unions brought decent working conditions to this country and with them decent wages. The hours worked, benefits garnered and pensions awaited are all union derived benefits. They are the reason, we can be so pompous about our observations today. Unions made the middle class in this country .... period!

But unions became politicized, rife with freeloaders who abused the system and tried to strangle the goose. They lost support and have fallen into disfavor. With their decline, have come worse working conditions, nowhere to turn for support and declining benefits. With their decline has come the decline of the middle class. This is no idle observation but has been verified by Sindlinger and Company consumer polling. For every 3 workers that leave the middle class, one goes up and two go down. The middle class is disappearing, certainly declining. Ultimately this is not good for the country.

The ultimate answer is the resurgence of unions but that is going to be very hard. People have to be pushed to the brink and that imples bad times, worse than today but we may be getting close. There have been attempts to unionize WalMart and they have been met with firings as I recall reading in the news. Employers use overseas avenues now to avoid any hint of unions.

So where is this heading, probably worse before it gets better. The one thing that becomes clear is that the economy and the human condition run in cycles, the average is truly obtained by hitting the guardrails on either side. I suspect it will work itself out but the direction we are headed is not likely to get better before it gets worse.

The ultimate answer is the resurgence of unions but that is going to be very hard. People have to be pushed to the brink and that imples bad times, worse than today but we may be getting close.

What the hell country are some of you living in?? 5.6% unemployment seems pretty low to me. There are jobs out there. People should take ANY job they can find, or 2 or yes, 3. And Unions? Unions are the problem.

What in the hell does unions have to do with who becomes successful?

Did you drive a new car when you were 25? I sure didn't. Being stupid enough to hang a large loan bill from the bank around your neck will certainly keep someone from having any extra cash to invest in real estate or the stock market.

Buying the newest style clothes is more important to many than investing their money in a growth fund that will guarantee early retirement or a comfortable lifestyle.